The film’s people for Spider-Man: Homecoming had no idea how famous their MJ actress was during casting.
Zendaya was already a true star before the Marvel movie Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). She had already appeared in two major Disney Channel hits, Shake It Up! and K.C. Undercover, and had also been seen in Beyoncé’s Lemonade.
But Marvel had no clue who Zendaya really was during the casting for the Spider-Man film.
Here you can see a trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming:
“Dressed like a normal girl”
Amy Pascal, the producer of Spider-Man: Homecoming, admitted that neither she nor Kevin Feige (also a producer on the film, now head of Marvel Entertainment) had any idea who Zendaya was when she auditioned for the role of MJ in 2016.
“She wasn’t wearing any makeup and was dressed like a normal girl […]” the producer explained further.
Even though no one knew who she was, Zendaya was able to impress immediately with her acting performance and thrilled the Spider-Man team.
So the young actress got the role because the producers thought, “Oh my God, she’s amazing. She has to be in the movie.”
In retrospect, the people behind the film realized who they had actually cast with Zendaya: “And then we found out that she’s a really famous person and felt really stupid.”
More about Spider-Man can be found here with our colleagues from Moviepilot: Marvel missed a chance completely without reason after 14 years: Spider-Man star wanted to return in No Way Home, but was not asked
Will we see Zendaya in a 4th Spider-Man movie? After the trilogy with Spider-Man: Homecoming, Far From Home, and No Way Home, a fourth film is already planned. According to Screenrant, the return of the actress as MJ is expected.
You last saw Zendaya in the major sci-fi film Dune: Part Two in the role of Chani. More about the film by Denis Villeneuve can be read here at MeinMMO:
Dune 2 Review: Those who don’t go to the cinema for this sci-fi epic are missing film history.
